Plans For Expansion Of Lyons Road Delayed 60 Days

No Delay In Work

There will be a 60-day delay in the submission of plans for the expansion of Lyons Road, but the developers who are doing the project say there should not be a delay in actual construction.

Plans to widen Lyons Road between Sample Road and Hillsboro Boulevard were to have been given to Broward officials by Feb. 8, but the County Commission on Tuesday agreed to accept them by April 8.

``The engineers who are doing it, Keith & Schnars, are trying to resolve some of the drainage problems out there,`` said Gerald Knight, an attorney for Amerifirst Development Corporation.

Amerifirst is widening Lyons Road as part of an agreement between it, Broward County, and the Broward Expressway Authority. Amerifirst also will sell land to the Expressway Authority in exchange for lower impact fees on future developments in the area.

Some commissioners feared that delaying submission of the plans -- which are also to include future expansion to six lanes -- might delay the project itself.

``We don`t expect it will,`` Knight said, noting that agreement calls for completion of the widening within 18 months of plan approval.

``Hopefully, we`ll be able to construct the road in less time than the contract allows for,`` Knight said.

In other action, the county commission gave permission to representatives of the Rolling Hills Golf and Tennis Club in Davie to file for certain land use changes.

The developer, Village Builders, has plans for a 70-acre shopping center, a 200,000-square foot office/professional center and 32 townhouse/villa units within the 335-acre Rolling Hills community on University Drive.

The requests for these land uses will go to the Broward County Planning Council, which considers proposed land use changes in different cities at different times of the year.

The planning council is not scheduled to consider land use changes from Davie until the summer, which is why Village Builders requested a special exception from the County Commission.

Interestingly, the attorney who made the request was Robert Butterworth, the acting mayor of Sunrise.

``He`s my law partner and I`ve been in Colorado the last two weeks and I asked him to file this petition for me,`` said Wilson Atkinson, who represented Village Builders before the commission.

In other action, the County Commission approved two plats for future developments in West Broward:

(BU) Inverrary Commercial Center, an office complex on five acres at the corner of Northwest 44th Street and Inverrary Boulevard.

(BU) Jacaranda Lakes Section Twelve, 38 single-family homes on 15 acres on the south side of Sunrise Boulevard, between Northwest 94th Avenue and Northwest 98th Avenue.